Hue to Hoi An - 26th January

We had a new guide today called Hung. He was really enthusiastic and knowledgeable and gave us a great tour of Hue. First we went to the Citadel which is where the kings lived during the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945).

Breakfast

Much of it had been destroyed during the Vietnamese war and you could see bullet holes in the walls. Renovations were being done but it still felt a dreadful waste and very sad that so much history had been destroyed so pointlessly.

Entrance to the Citadel

Carp in the pond

The citadel was home to a number of Dynasty kings who lived in the central palace (1802-1945). They each had up to 200 wives ...busy men. The Mandarins had an important presence during this time and were split between Mandarin soldiers and Mandarin monks. They would all gather in the main square to greet the emperor.

We then visited the tomb of the fourth emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty Tu Duc. It was built between 1864 and 1867 and was a place of solitude for the emperor to go before and after death. It was an extravagant place with pagodas and temples and a big man-made lake however his tomb was very modest. The emperor felt he'd made mistakes during his ruling and deliberately wanted a modest burial. Tu Duc and his wealth were never actually buried here but in a secret location to stop grave robbers. Every one of the 200 servants who buried the king were beheaded in order to keep the secret.

Puppy on a bike

After this visit we headed on a long drive through Danang and onto Hoi An. We could have driven over the spectacular Hai Van Pass but the weather wasn't nice enough and instead we drove through a newly opened tunnel which was channelled through the mountain.

2 Pigs on a bike

Fishermen Huts

Carolyn had bought some pencils and caps to hand out to children and when we got into Hoi An we went to an orphanage to hand them out. The children all seemed really pleased.

By the time we got to Hoi An we were pretty hungry as we hadn't had lunch so we went to a restaurant Hung recommended. At first there was again a bit of a 'hoo haa' that it was too 'westernised' but the food turned out to be very traditional and delicious. As per the itinerary we were meant to have a city tour in the afternoon but by now it was 4pm so Hung said he'd come back and take us round the next day. This suited us fine as we were pretty tired. Bonnie and Carolyn went to a tailors to get some tailor made clothes and me and Andy went for a nice wander round the town. Hoi An was really appealing set on a river. It was an old town and prone to annual flooding. The town was geared to tourism and there were lots of cafes and bars. On the other side of the river a whole new complex of bars had been built but thankfully they'd been built in keeping with the buildings in old Hoi An.

After a wander round we went back to the hotel for a rest before heading out again for some food a walk around and we went to a bar for a couple of drinks before heading back to the hotel.